Which speakers to be ''in'' the music?

I don't own these, but I'd have to think Magnepans or similar type speakers

Your Engrish is wonderful Mo.

 Some speakers sound this way and other speakers sound that way. But Sonus Faber speakers just sound like music. I would suggest you try and demo a pair. Sonus faber speakers, at lest my Elipsa SE are one of the few speakers that I feel can properly reproduce the sound of a piano properly. 

 I would suggest buying used to get the most speaker for your money. If you see something that catches your eye, ask to hear it. You can search Audiogon by location to try and find a pair that is not that far away from where you live.

@maurice89 - what appears to be a simple request, evolves into something quite complex with an even more complex answer

Even the best speaker in the world will not perform well without very good speaker cables

So I would include those in your budget as well.

Then you will be able to hear exactly how that speaker performs

That is, provided the demands the speaker places on the amp is well matched to the amp you have selected. Different speakers can put very different demands on the amplifier and the amp has to be able to cope with those demands.
- BTW, to handle those demands effortlessly the amp requires a very good power cable, mainly to allow it to handle transient peaks with ease.

Once you have all that sorted out you then have to get the very best signal to the amp - this is where the interconnects come into play - poor interconnects poor sound.

So as you can see, it gets complicated - fast!

I know my own system has never sounded so engaging since I spent the bulk of the last 4 years looking into cables and the impacts they have on system performance.
.
My starting place would be with cables.

But since you asked about speakers - I am currently using Gershman Acoustics Sonogram (from Canada), The Sonograms are probably the most boring floor standing speaker to look at, but they hide their best design features inside their rectangular box.

What’s so special about these speakers?
- the internal cabinet design minimizes standing waves
- the large rear port minimizes bass reflections
- the 2" dome midrange is largely responsible for the impressive image they convey
- they are the most invisible speakers I have ever heard in any price range.

Eli Gershman’s latest speaker lineup is a little more exciting to look at than the Sonogram and I would have to believe, improves on the Sonograms stellar performance.

Sonograms can be purchased used for a very reasonable price, but GA’s current models I believe start around $6000 canadian.

I’ve had the Sonograms for almost 10 years and in that time I have only heard one set of speakers that sounded significantly better - they cost $35,000 canadian.

Take a look at the Gershman Acoustics line-up - I was very glad I did :-)

Your musical tastes are not too different from my own, so I think you would be very happy with a pair of Gershman Acoustics, regardless of model

Regards - Steve

"I want to be IN the music,"

If you mean that you can walk around the room and are still in the "sweet spot", then you might enjoy:

Omni/polydirectional speakers or maybe
Speakers with wide dispersion

Several have home trial though most you’ll have trouble auditioning. From the list I’ve only heard the ohms and the smaller floor stand LSA. The list was put together from research I’ve done for myself, mostly on here.


Omnidirectionals or close:
--ohm
--decware?
--Shahnian
--Larsen has a model

Wide dispersion
--Dali
--LSA speakers (you might to talk Walter underwood hifi.  He's very helpful).
--Revel
--Tannoy

berner99 is giving you good advice

your english is fine

good luck have fun

Graham Audio LS 5/9 have beautiful rendition of instruments, piano, brass and especially violin sounds great, but it is male voices that really impress me, I was looking for a long time for speaker that could reproduce male voices in a satisfying way and I feel I found that with the 5/9, most speakers I feel do a good job with female voices, but I feel very few do good male voices, maybe because to me it sounds like 90% of the speaker market are thin sounding and very fatigued after longer listening sessions.
Spendor Classic line would be a good bet too, as would QLN.

Wide dispersion is a great way to maximize room interaction and is way more often as not a big mistake. I can't help thinking that what you are looking for is headphones but I think this is most likely a distortion of translation. 

Point source speakers such as you are listening to have miniature sound stages. They put you way back in the concert hall. Line source speakers give you a large soundstage and put you right up front which is what I think you mean.

There is one speaker in your price range that is a line source dipole which will meet your request beautifully and that is the Magneplanar 3.7i. This speaker may qualify as the single best value in all of Hi Fi dom. It has a few weaknesses which you should be aware of up front. They like power. They are an easy load but are just not very efficient. Tube amps will work fine but you will need 100 watts/ch. Even with a lot of power you can not expect them to hit the volume levels regular dynamic speakers do but they will go plenty loud enough for the music you like. They are not a good speaker for metal maniacs. They do not go super low down but few speakers do. If you want to shake the neighborhood you will need subwoofers. What bass is there is superbly defined and they give percussion a snap missing from most speakers. They have arguably the best tweeter ever made.

Most other speakers are just more of the same. When you listen to these you will know you are listening to very different loudspeakers. Listen to these first and you probably won't even bother listening to anything else so save them for last. Have fun and good luck!

I am not going to belabor others points above.  Yep.  

Check out Raidho.  They deliver a massive and immersive soundstage.  Even speakers as small as the X-1s assuming your room is setup correctly.  Scansonic does this as well, just not quite as effectively (same company).  I enjoy their stand-mounts with a subwoofer.  

Audiovector - has a rear firing tweeter in their smaller (R1 and R3) models.  This offer a wonderful experience.  You ought to be able to find the older RS 3 model in this range.  

Magnepan, Martin Logan or other electrostat/planar panels.  The only thing to note is these like power and depending on the speaker, amp matching can be interesting.  Magnepan is warm and like brighter SS amplification.  Martin Logan is cold and needs neutral to warm amplification.  

The ultimate speaker for this experience is MBL.  I doubt you will find one used in that price range.  

You definitely need to listen to at least one brand of omnidirectional loudspeaker, to discover if this is, generally speaking, the kind of effect that you are looking for.

+1 for Magnepans

My 2 cents:

Their SQ / $$ ratio seems very high.  Driving them with 220W per channel, the soundstage and imaging is impressive.   

They sound OK anywhere in the room, but when you get in the sweet spot, the music transforms into 3 dimensions if it was recorded well.  The speakers need a lot of air around them, they need about 4 feet from any wall.  

I have only auditioned these against B&W and Goldenear, and we all know there are better sounding speakers out there.  From what I have auditioned and researched,  they are hard to beat for the price.

The brand that is always true to the music and gives most of bang for buck  is Totem from Montreal . At least of the hundred I have tried .

Maurice,
ca va?
your English tres bien

Just my 2 cents.
I have Ref 3A de Capos on one system and Klipsch Quartets on the other both low power set amps ( 4 and 6 wpc).  The de capos are more real in one way detailed, clean but the Quartets with horns always reminds of sitting at a live concert.

The most important thing for imaging is room acoustics. 

If you are not feeling depth, height, and a width that goes past your speakers, your room is failing you.

Used ROCKPORT OR MAGICO A3S jump on them ASAP!

Once again mostly just a top-ten list of individuals’ preferred speakers.

+1 williewonka and erik_squires

Without those , it is like eating a exquisite meal in a cardboard plate,
with plastic utensils.
´´ Excellent speakers’´ is not the only parameter for what you are looking for .
Votre anglais est meilleur que le mien !
Pierre 

Thanks everybody for all the the thoughtful responses! You definetly gave me a lot of options to audition and I can’t wait to discover all of those speakers.
And I want to reassure everyone that I know that speakers is just one of many aspects needed to make a coherent and musical system, but I know different speaker brands have different philosophy so I just want to make a foundation that goes in the right direction for me. I am moving in a new house in which I will be fortunate enough to treat a room dedicated for listening sessions. I know the next steps will be to find the right cables, amplification, dac, pre-amp and such!

It is a journey and I really like it so far, you guys are the best community, really helpful and kind. Thanks again!

Pick any of the Tannoy’s prestige series speakers within your budget  plus room acoustic panels from GIK....you will be set for life! 

I’d add ATC speakers to your list.  In your price range the SCM 40v2 might be a good choice.  Best of luck. 

Bonjour Maurice

Did you find the Vandersteen's overall presentation slightly different than your previous speakers?
I don't mean more bass or sizzling highs but rather their basic musicality?
Did the Vandersteen's seem any less fatiguing over longer periods of time?

I owned Paradigm Studio 100s and Triangle Comet in my home theater.

Considering the warmth and hospitality I experienced while there I apologize to France for my pathetic attempt at speaking French which I would compare to garbage falling.

As a native Californian, French wine is - well...

M 

Hi m-db!

I found the Vandersteen very different from the previous speakers I owned.

Monitor Audio rx6 were my first pair of speakers, as a newcomer I found their midrange intoxicating, beautifully voiced, they were very sweet and I still enjoy them in my kitchen listening to it while I cook. But their presentation quickly felt limited for me: I didn’t find them articulated, they didn’t breath that much, I’m a musician and I found the trumpets and sax were never realistically sounding, it’s like someone was putting make up on the sound, too glossy! And the mid bass and bass were poor...

So I updated them for a pair of paradigm studio60, they conveyed much more power, energy and dynamics, but I found them low in resolution, not transparent and while the mid bass and bass were way better than the Monitor Audio, the midrange was as never great.

Than I had the opportunity to test the Triangle Antal. They were a step up from the previous two speakers I owned as they had a more coherent presentation and suprisingly good bass, but I didn’t find them transparent enough, I always found something was lost in the music they made and I found it fatiguing to my ear.

To finally answer your question, I find the Vandersteen presentation different from all those speakers and quite unique. I do find the highs to be sizzling especially in some classical or electronic music with really bright sounds are harsh to listen too (if you have a suggestion to fix that problem please tell me!), but the way they present the music is so right. The sound is detailed, I love the timbre so much , saxophones and trumpets sound right, voices feel alive. Non fatiguing and really musical. The bass is precise and balanced. When I listen music on the Vandersteen I always feel connected to the music. One of my musician friend owns the top of the line Adam s5H monitors which cost many time more the Vandersteen and while they are very precise, I always wish I was listening to my system, they just don’t feel alive like the Vandersteen, they don’t reproduce the music they way the Steen does...

The only thing I whish they did better is their spatiality: I always feel like I am listening to a concert from the 15th row, but I want to be in the second row, I want to close my eyes and be in the middle of the music, I don’t want it to be just in front of me. So I guess I want a more 3d sound, more depth, more verticality, without losing the musicality of the Vandersteen of course.


I’m curious, what is your dedicated stereo system?


PS: I do commercial works and had the opportunity to shoot in a couple vineyards in Mariposa, they had some beautiful Cab Franc, cheers!

I was auditioning Paradigm S8s along with my Studio 100s just as I had the opportunity to purchase my Avalon Acoustics Eidolons from their original owner.
I had all three in the house powered by pentode push-pull tube monaural  amplifiers. I so prefer LP's but the music is most important to me.

Within a few minutes even my family could hear a preferable difference.
With both Paradigm's I could easily hear each driver. Not so with the unfairly more expensive Eidolons. 

Vandersteen and Avalon are clearly different speakers but there is a similarity resulting from their design thats beyond my knowledge but not my ears. They simply sound musically right and far more relaxing which was the reason for my questions. 

Which ever speaker you decide on I found having someone who knows exactly what they're suppose to sound like assist in the speaker and listening position locations. In my case this was a huge improvement and may be a part of the solution your seeking. Monitoring recordings require a very different system. 

The Vandersteen's may be more forgiving in their placement and use more toe in from my brief show experience. The results seem similar to me.

All the best with your search. 

agree with sentiments below

vandys and avalons do something very right - i think it has to be the unboxy sound and dispersion pattern

higher vandy's should have level adjustment for tweeter to manage that response

OP -- Based on what you're describing, what you want is the holographic, three dimensional sound of tubes. I don't know what amplification you're using, but have you considered getting a tube amplifier and staying with your current speakers?

I am using an Hegel H190 for the time being, will give tube amplifiers a try!